Posted by Bill In NY [96.56.101.146] on Friday, January 02, 2015 at 11:53:05 :
In Reply to: Wish me luck fellas posted by Nick [50.8.247.176] on Thursday, January 01, 2015 at 17:59:43 :
Like others have said, it's a money game and you will feel like you lost in the end. The best way is to end the game asap. Lawyers charge by the hour, actually the minute.
A few words of advice.
If you and the soon to be ex are on okay speaking terms, and think you can both be level headed, try an arbitrator or lawyer do the needed paperwork to divide assets.
If there is contention do not talk with the soon to be ex. The less contact the better. Having the police visit is stressful to say the least and does not help in court. If you have issue call the police just to cover your ass, no issue is to minor. Better to be the caller than the one being called on.
If you can move your belonging out do it. if there are valuable items or irreplaceable item move them out or take pictures of them. Trying to get things back is expensive, especially if there is no proof they existed.
If you can get by without going to court the better and faster it goes. If you are the one that filed the paper you are in the advantage as you can dictate the pace of filing dates and court dates better.
For figuring out your net worth and the soon to be ex's and who has contributed funds to house, retirement, education, etc, the more work you do the less work your lawyer will bill you for. When you speak with your lawyer ask questions with black and white answers.
Look at the value of an item before fighting over it. A day in court over is probably more than the cost of really nice TV. This goes back to getting your stuff out before fighting over it. Lawyer charge for the time it take to get to and from court and to sit in court and wait for your few minutes with the judge.
If you have questions I am sure one of us has an opinion on how to deal with it. Finding a place that is free of the stresses of the divorce will help a lot. Mine was going to work (surprising but the people I work with are pretty great). If you are still living in the same house it's tough. Try to separate your living area if possible. If you can get all your stuff out then move out.
Keep records of all things that are shared expenses. BTW, cable, phone and internet are not needed like, water, heat and hot water. If you want to save a few bucks cancel the cable, phone and internet.
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